A Few Quotes on Inventory Management That Can Make You Think and Act

When it comes to inspiring quotes in the business world, topics tend to stay on abstract principles like inspiration or general productivity. These are great fodder for conceptualizing ideas and getting those creative juices flowing, but what about quotes on more practical issues like inventory management? Sure it doesn’t sound quite as inspirational, but the truth is that focusing on the minutiae often helps drive innovation that can be put to practical use.

Here we’ve gathered together a few quotes that touch on inventory across a number of fields to highlight how this type of wisdom can help companies today. These quotes from people across several disciplines offer insights and inspirations that could easily help small business owners struggling to meet the challenges of everyday issues like inventory and POS management.

There are two ways to extend a business. Take inventory of what you’re good at and extend out from your skills. Or determine what your customers need and work backward, even if it requires learning new skills. Kindle is an example of working backward.
(Jeff Bezos)

Amazon has taken a fair bit of heckling over the years — from their initial concept of shipping everything from books to diapers to their decision to branch out into e-readers and electronics. But in the end, their dedication to innovation, strategy and — of course — inventory control has helped them gain ground and become one of the biggest and most successful companies in the world.

Strapped by tight credit and plummeting sales, businesses have overhauled the way they manage supply chains, inventory, production practices and staffing. (Janet Yellen)

Economist Janet Yellen has a way of identifying the underlying cause and effect of business practice. Here she has yet again hit the nail on the head. Businesses today have to focus on the bottom line as well as overall performance and happiness for customers and employees alike. That means being flexible and open to change. Embracing innovative approaches to small business inventory management software and practices is often the cornerstone of the flexibility.

Less emphasis on inventories, I think, may tend to dampen business cycles, because business cycles are typically in the grasp of inventory cycles and heavy industry cycles. (Paul A. Volcker)

At the end of the day, Volcker’s assessment of the relationship between inventory and business highlights the fundamental truth of running a successful business. Inventory and POS management isn’t about making your day easier or your business run better — it’s the key to surviving cycles, meeting customer expectation and emerging as an industry leader.